Govt might offer concessions to separatists, fears Advani

Senior BJP leader LK Advani on Saturday expressed apprehension that the UPA government could be planning to offer a package of concessions to separatists in
Jammu and Kashmir in the guise of a political solution.

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader LK Advani on Saturday expressed apprehension that the UPA government could be planning to offer a package of concessions to separatists in
Jammu and Kashmir in the guise of a political solution.

"...Home Minister P Chidambaram was expected to reply to the debate (on situation in Jammu and Kashmir)... But day after day kept passing by, the unconcluded debate on Kashmir never found mention in the list of business," Advani said in
his latest blog posting. The opposition leader said "rumours" kept circulating that under the guise of a political solution some "package of concessions" was being planned.

"There was an uproar on the issue (in Lok Sabha) and the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs said he would ask the Home Minister (Chidambaram), who was in the other House, if he could come.

Well, he did not come, and the House was adjourned sine die in the evening without Government telling Parliament what kind of package it had prepared for the `azadi-seekers`," Advani wrote.

Referring to the preconditions posed by hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani this week for talks with the Centre, Advani, who is Chairman of the BJP Parliamentary
Party, quoted the separatists leader as saying that "the means of resistance may have been changing from time to time, but the objective has been consistent, namely freedom from Indian rule".

Alleging that opposition PDP was equally responsible for the present situation in the state, he said "the separatists in Kashmir are led by the Hurriyat Conference. But
the ferocious stone-pelting movement these days draws its strength more from the PDP than from the Hurriyat."

The BJP leader recalled how a doctor -- a Kashmiri Pandit -- saved Geelani`s life by performing a difficult surgery in 2002.

He said after a similar surgery in 2007 performed in a Mumbai hospital, Geelani returned to Srinagar. "At the function held (to welcome him), he said that India was in
illegal occupation of Kashmir, and urged the international community to impose economic sanctions against India," recalled Advani.

"These facts about his (Geelani`s) past show up the man," the former BJP president said.